The Over-Break System

Grasping at her chest and thrashing about in pain, Melody fought against Benny, who was gently holding her and making sure she didn’t hurt herself in the process.

[Brance, what is going on? What are you guys yelling about? Did something happen?] Back in the Headmaster’s office, Cynrik wore a stern expression as he flipped through various sheets of paper representing a written agreement between MyrkLys and VSFA.

[Melody overextended and ended up summoning a high leveled Golem that was beyond her control. Everything is fine, we got it handled, but right now, she is facing some kind of backlash from us killing the creature.] Stepping over and examining the girl being held by a worried Benny, Brance quickly concluded what was happening to her.

[Sigh, is she alright, or does she need to go to the infirmary?] Sighing both in and out of the mind link, Cynrik avoided the Headmaster’s curious gaze and busied himself “Fake” triple checking the documents.

[Probably not, Benny is feeding her health potions like water right now, so she will more than likely be back on her feet in a while, but this doesn’t exactly look good for us. We already have a habit of being known as Workout-a-holics by the staff, and now someone got hurt on our watch, a Professor’s kid nonetheless.] Kneeling down beside Benny and Melody, Brance scanned the girl’s chest with [Mana Sight] and could see the Mana within her Codex churning violently, which happens when you overdraft your Codex to a point where the different Elemental particles are fighting against each other.

“Benny, get her inside and lay her on the couch for now. She needs to rest; her Codex is overheated; give her a cycle of Stamina potions, healing potions, and then Mana potions, in that order. Gabby, Selene, please head back to our dorm. Gabby, go in my room and bring some blankets and pillows, Selene, warm up some water, and ready some handtowels.” Standing back up and motioning for Gabby and Selene to return to the dorm first and prepare, Brance issued a series of orders and watched everyone quickly go into action.

[Cyn, what’s the best way to calm down a Codex? You seem to always be overdrafting yours, so how do you curb it?] Following behind Benny, who was holding Melody in a princess carry, Brance asked his brother what to do.

[When my Codex overheats, I usually hit it with my Killing Intent. The sudden pressure on the particles usually freaks them out enough to scare them into submission, but it isn’t something you can just “DO”; instead, you have to focus on the Mana inside, not the organ itself.]

[Next, you have to walk her through separating the Mana particles, so they don’t interact with each other and, for lack of a better word, go back into their own corner of the organ. We may call it overdrafting, but what is happening is a result of the person forcing every ounce of available Mana out simultaneously, creating a traffic jam of sorts. Most particles don’t like mingling together like that, so they start fighting like cats and dogs over who gets to enter the circuits first.] Cynrik explained in terms Brance would understand.

[So pressure, along with the potion combo I’ve seen you use, got it.] Stepping ahead of Benny and opening the front door with a tap of his Watcet, Brance headed into the living room, where the girls had already set up a makeshift bed on the couch.

[Stam, Healing, Killing Intent, Mana, in that order precisely. You don’t want to introduce Affinity particles too early, or you’ll have a fourth particle type fighting for supremacy.]

Moving as fast as he could, Benny gently laid the still squirming in pain girl down on the couch.

“Benny, step back and let me do this,” nudging his way past Benny, who was fumbling with the three different potion types in panic, Brance swiped the bottles from the boy and knelt down beside Melody.

“Melly, listen to me carefully; either by summoning a creature outside of your limit or the contract’s forceful cancelation due to the summon’s death, you are experiencing backlash at the moment, resulting in your Codex being in a state of overdraft. What this means is the Mana stored inside is fighting to get out. I have a way to help you, but it may be uncomfortable, and I need to place my hand on your chest.

“Arg, please do it; I’m sorry; I didn’t mean for this to happen; please just make the pain stop!” Fighting through the pain and tears, Melody looked up at Brance with glistening emerald pleading eyes.

“Alright, when I tell you, I need you to try controlling your Mana and separating it back to its spot in your Codex,” Brance said as he gently lifted up an uncapped Stamina potion to the girl’s lips, making her drink it all before flicking the cap off a second and third and moving on to the healing potions.

“That’s good, Melly; now comes the hard part; ok, I need to pressure the particles stored in your body into submission. To do this, I have to hit them with my Killing Intent. No matter what, It will be extremely uncomfortable as I will have to bypass your skin and bones to get to your Codex and pressure the Mana directly. It will feel like a huge animal is sitting on your chest, robbing you of your air, so I want you to take a deep breath and blink twice when you are ready.”

[Selene, have Gabby help you hold down her legs, if she moves too much, I may end up nailing her heart or some other body part. This is all about precision, according to Cynrik.]

“I am about ready to begin, Melly. Selene and Gabby will be holding your feet so that you don’t kick me or try moving, and Benny will be right here holding your shoulders for me.” Looking over at the worried Benny, Brance drew his attention and had the girl sit up enough so that she could rest her back against Benny’s chest.

Once the girl was in position, Brance activated [Mana Sight] and placed his right hand on her chest, just above where he could see her brightly shining Codex. Ignoring the softness under his palm, Brance took a deep breath to focus on the task at hand. The procedure he was about to try needed his absolute concentration since anytime you were dealing with the inner workings of the body of a being, one miscalculation could spell disaster.

“Take as deep of a breath as possible for me, Melly, and double blink when you are good,” Brance said in a warm and calm tone, trying to keep the girl at ease.

Listening to his directions, Melody nodded slightly, wincing in pain, and sucked in as big of a breath as her lungs could hold before blinking both eyes hard, signaling Brance that he could begin.

Using his Killing intent in short bursts no longer than 2-3 seconds at a time, Brance continually stunned the turbulent Mana particles over and over. This cycle only stopped when Melody needed air every three to four minutes. With the gravitational pressure holding the particles, Melody fought against the pain and exasperatingly breathless feeling and tried to will them back to their assigned areas within the Codex.

As this went on, Benny held her firmly against his chest, running his fingers through her hair and tracing circles on her smooth shoulders. Every time her body would shudder from Brance’s KIN, he would softly whisper words of encouragement into her ears. After what seemed like an eternity to everyone involved, Melody got her Codex under control, and Brance removed his hand from her chest before falling back onto his butt on the carpet.

“Fucking hell, how the hell does Big Brother do this shit so easily,” Brance said, wiping the sweat off his face with the hem of his shirt.

“A lot of practice; I can’t tell you how many times my experiments have left my Codex overdrafted. Luckily I was able to get the hang of it after like the twentieth time. Now I can pull it off in less than a minute.” Suddenly appearing out of thin air, Cynrik strode into the living room and placed his hand on Melody’s forehead, checking her temperature before removing the cap from a Mana potion and helping her drink it. Once finished, the girl finally passed out, succumbing to weakness and exhaustion.

“How long have you been back.” Brance sighed and asked.

“About an hour; you’ve been at it for a while now. I saw you were focused, so instead of taking over, I figured it was best to let you get some experience in doing this procedure in case you need to again in the future.” Cynrik said before looking at Benny.

“Take her to your room and let her sleep it off, morning training is off since it’s already passed noon, but we need to have a team meeting so I can fill you all in on our next move.”

Benny didn’t reply but simply nodded his head in understanding before picking Melody up and carrying her off to his bedroom, where he gently laid her down and tucked her in before returning with his head hung in shame.

Once Benny took his spot on his regular couch, and everyone else was sitting around, Cynrik crossed his arms like a disappointed parent and looked at the four members of his party, the other three who were also hanging their heads.

“What’s with the mopey attitudes? It’s not like I am going to scold you all. Everyone fucked up today, but luckily you guys could handle it without me, so it’s not like I’m pissed off. Plus, we have more important matters to deal with. Melody will be fine, so put that out of your minds.” Shaking his head and fighting back a chuckle at the sad state of his group, Cynrik began slowly pacing on the opposite side of the coffee table, separating him and the four on the couches.

“First things first, my curfew has been lifted, in fact, most of the punishments I received thanks to the little group battle some months back have been canceled except for me having to attend therapy every other week, so we can finally begin our training for real.”

At Cynrik’s words, Selene and Gabby’s heads shot up, and excitement filled their eyes. Since Brance was already in the know, he didn’t have much of a reaction, and Benny was still too worried about Melody to give his full attention to the conversation.

“Everyone can take the rest of the day off. I already called Jessup to check on our gear. It looks like it will still take another week to get everything to our specifications, so we will be heading to the Obelisks tomorrow morning, bright and early.”

“Since we can’t use any outside equipment, and only the ones we earn within the confines of the Obelisk, we can start grinding for XP and resources, so for the rest of the day, I need everyone to iron out their two New Classes. I’ve given everyone plenty of time to figure out what route they want to take, except Selene, who has a Unique Class; you guys need to make your final decisions and get it squared away before tomorrow morning. Now then, I’ve got breakfast…er, I guess it’s lunchtime now, but whatever, if you want some wash your hands and get your plates ready; it’s first-come, first-serve on Double Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Waffles.”

Clapping his hands and pulling out the takeaway box filled with fresh waffles, Cynrik called an end to the meeting and headed to the kitchen, with Gabby and Selene hot on his heels.

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